Trimming device



July 9 1940. A, 5 P 7 2,207,024

- TRIMMING DEVICE Filed Aug. 18, 1939 3 Sheets-Shet 1 INVENTOR. ABM/1 SEN/01f B /NCE.

BY M 1' al a.

, ATTORNEYS.

July 9, 1940.

A. S. PRINCE TRIMMING DEVICE Filed Aug. 18, 1958 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 l v fflll' 4 INVENTOR.

ATTORNEYS y 9, 1940- A. s. PRINCE 2,207,024

TRIMMING DEVICE Filed Aug. 18, 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 waazanavaanaa an nuuuumilzixi; f

,MQ QZZM ATTORNEYS.

Patented July 9, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFHCE Claims.

My invention relates to mechanism for use in cutting papers to an exact size, which is prearranged, and which cutting may bear a relationship to matter upon the pieces to be trimmed 5 that is under the control of the operator. It has particular application to the trimming of papers such as photostats, in which it is often required that sizes be exact, a matter which takes considerable time, if it be done by hand measure- 10. ments.

The fundamental theory of the device is to mount a piece of material, such as a photostat to be trimmed on a rotary platform, the center of turning of which is adjusted and gauged to have a definite distance from a knife which is used for cutting. This table is turned through quarter revolutions by a mechanism set into operation simply and easily, and moved to and fro through a path, which is adjusted and gauged to a movement equal to one half the excess of one dimension of the final trim in the paper over the other. Thus if a photostat was to be trimmed to exactly five by eight inches, one adjustment would be to set the table to center two and onehalf inches from the knife, and move the table in addition to rotating it, so that at every alternate quarter turn, the center of the table would be one and one-half inches further from the knife than at the other two alternate quarters. By arranging the paper to center on the center of the table and since the knife will be four inches from the center of the sheet to be trimmed, and then two and one-half inches therefrom; the trimmed edges in the final product will be to a dimension of exactly five by eight inches.

It is my object to employ a transparent medium of known position with reference to the machine, and hence the lmife, and adjust the sheets seriatim as viewed through the glass before starting the cutting, which transparent medium may be marked to act as a gauge. In this way irregular sheets can be adjusted to bring the matter printed thereon, into the required relationship with the margins to be trimmed. It is my object to provide for calibrations which can be readily observed by the operator to guide him in his adjustments, and to make the mechanism simple, and fool proof.

I have indicated in the drawings a preferred form of device, and will confine my description to this particular form. The claims that follow and to which reference is hereby made will set forth the novelty in the structure which I deem to be patentable to me.

In the drawings:

vices taken along line 4-4 of Fig. 2, having cer- 5 tain parts broken away.

Fig. 5 is a section on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a bottom plan view of the adjustment screw device forthe frame member.

Fig. 7 is a section on the 1m 14 of Fig. 4. 10,

Figs. 8, 9, 10 and 11 are diagrams illustrating the operation of the device,

Fig. 12 is a detail showing a possible calibration device for the eccentric in bottom plan.

The device may be built as a unit with a ta- .5;

ble I and legs 2. On the table is a cutting board 3, and a knife 3, which is of any usual de sign and pivoted at 5 on the cutting board.

Beneath the table, in the illustrated embodiment, are apair of slide rods 6, on which slides 20 a frame I. Journaled in this framein thesboss 8, is a shaft 9, on which is supported a depending yoke ID. A drive shaft H is journaled in the lower ends of the arms of this yoke, and has mounted on one end a grooved pulleyl2, 25 and on the other end a friction disk l3.

Referring to Fig. 7, it will be noted that a bracket M on the pulley branch of the yoke sup:- ports a spring embraced rod l5, which is connected to a link It, by means of which the yoke 0,

the control of the operator. The bell crank has its outer end in position under a pivotally mounted handle 21, at the side of the table.

The friction disk l3 engages, when the slide, I7 is in its outer position, with a friction wheel 22 mounted on the extended end of a worm 23, 4,5,

the worm being supported in the frame (Fig. 7). The worm engages a worm gear 24, mounted on a spindle 25 in the frame. On the upper end of this spindle is therotary table 26 on which a piece of material to be trimmed is to be held.

Also on this spindle is a gear 21 of the same number of teeth as the gear 24, which meshes with a pinion 28 of the eccentric device, which has one-half said number of teeth.

The pinion 28 is journaled in a boss 29 of the frame, and has secured thereto on its lower face, a slotted disk 38, the slot 3| therein being traversed by an adjusting screw 32. In the slot also is a slide block 33, through which the screw is threaded and by means of which its position in the slot is adjusted. This block has a depending stud 34 thereon, the object of this mechanism as lastly described being to cause this stud to describe a path which is eccentric with relation to the center of rotation of the pinion 28, and the eccentricity of which can be adjusted.

Referring to Fig. 12, Sheet 1, it may be noted that the slide block may have a projection thereon which serves to provide a pointer 35, said pointer traversing a calibrated scale 35, whereby the distance of eccentricity may be read by the operator.

The stud 35 which traverses this eccentric path is connected to one branch 31 of an adjustable link, the other branch of which is shown at 38. Referring to Figs. 5 and 6, the construction is such that the link portion 38 has a screw 39 mounted therein which engages in a slot 40 in the branch 31, whereby the turning down of this screw locks the adjustment of the link portions together, at some predetermined adjustment. The branch 38 of the: link has an L shaped member 4! thereon, which is threaded in its portion 42, that extends along the link. The link branch 31 has a clevis 43 thereon, through which the screw passes, and on the screw Within the clevis is a threaded nut 44. The link branch 38 is secured on a bracket 45 on the table, or bed of the device.

So constructed, when the screw 39 is unclamped from position, the nut 44 may be revolved, thus sliding the link branches with relation to each other and shortening or lengthening the link. The length of the link can be read on calibrations at 46 on the branch 37, or in some other convenient manner.

The rotary table .26, may by the construction now described be adjusted with relation to the knife in some given position by adjusting the length of the link. The main sliding frame is thus brought to a desired position to start an operation. Also the degree of eccentricity of the stud on the slotted rotated disk is adjusted, this adjustment being made first, for obvious reasons.

Referring to the rotary table 25, it should be noted that it is provided with four notches 26a in its periphery. The slide IT, to which reference has been made in connection with throwing in and out the friction drive, has an upwardly extending tooth I'Ia which rides on the periphery of the table but will drop into each of the notches 25a, when it comes to position in front of the tooth. When the slide moves with the tooth in any notch, the friction drive will be thrown out of operation. When the tooth is riding on the periphery of the rotary table, the drive is held in operation.

Referring now to the parts above the rotary table, I provide by preference a clamp 47, which is rotatively mounted by means of a collar 48, on the end of a post 49 (Fig. '7). This post is depressed by a spring 50 that bears on the collar 48, and the collar bears on a fixed collar 5| on the end of the post. The upper end of the post is held in a boss 52 on the end of a bracket 53 on the table of the machine, (said bracket being swung on a post 54 so that the bracket travels in unity with the frame 1). The clamp is operated by means of a lever 55, forked at 56 to engage under a washer 51 on the upper end of the clamp supporting post. The outer end of the lever is engaged by a rod 58. This rod is connected to a foot treadle 59, and a spring 60 is mounted over the rod.

The lever is pivotally mounted at 55a on the bracket, and the end of the rod 58 is formed as a loop 6|, which engages over the end of the lever, thus permitting it to swing. The spring 60 presses up against this loop, thus keeping the foot treadle 59 in elevated position.

In operation by depressing the foot treadle, the clamp 4'? is elevated from the rotary table. It is adjusted around to a position over the table, in whatever position of adjustment the table is given and then permitted to come down and clamp the piece of material to be trimmed on the table. The clamp is so mounted that as the table revolves and moves to and fro, the clamp will move with it.

A gauge plate formed of a transparent sheet material 62, which has a hole in it for the rotary table to be exposed, is mounted on hinges 63 to the cutting board. Strips 64 on this sheet extend back from the hinge and are connected to gether by a cross piece 65, and this cross piece 65 has passing therethrough a rod 55, which rod is in turn welded to the rod 53, which operates the clamp lever. Rod 65 has a collar 86a thereon which collar bears against the cross piece 65. Thus when the rod 58 is depressed to operate the clamp, the gauge plate 62 is also raised, although in its lowered position this gauge plate is not pressed against the table or the cutting board, in the manner that the clamp engages the rotary table.

I have indicated in Fig. 2 an arrangement of two foot treadles one of which is the treadle 59 already mentioned which acts on the clamp and the gauge plate, and the other treadle 61 of which may be connected by a rod 88, with a lever 59 which is pivoted on the side of the table so as to lie over the bell crank 20 that controls the operation of the latch slide, and clutch operator. In this way the machine may be started and stopped by the foot instead of using the hand lever shown.

As so constructed, the theory of operation will be readily understood from the diagrams Figs. 8 to 11, inclusive. Supposing that as shown in Fig. 8, the slide is in latched position in notch C, in the rotary table, and that a sheet of paper D to be trimmed is located and clamped to the table, with reference to some gauge mark on the transparent gauge plate, which in turn bears a definite relationship with the knife. Let us suppose that the sheet of paper is to be trimmed to exactly 8 by 10 inches. In that event the eccentric will be adjusted so that it reads on the scale of calibrations, a dimension of 1 inch. This will then be dimension B, as shown on the diagrams. Suppose then the two part link be adjusted, so that read on the calibrated scale of the said link will be 4 inches. This will mean that the center of the rotary table will be exactly four inches from the cut off line applied by the knife.

The operator will have in the first place made these adjustments, and will have raised the clamp and gauge plate, inserted a sheet to be trimmed and gauged its position along some mark on the gauge plate which should coincide with some mark or margin of the paper, when adjusted for an eight by ten inch sheet. This much requires the work of the eye, but can be determined once .table starts to turn.

for abatch of sheets and then established by securing strips of Scotch tape to define the gauge lines.

Having lowered the clamp sothat the sheet is held fast to the table, by which time the sheet will be adjusted, the operator is ready to cut the first edge, which is done by bringing down the knife, in this caseby hand.

The operator then releases the latch slide, thus throwing in the clutch, by a depression of the operating handle or'treadle, and the rotary The table makes a onequarter turn, but the eccentric device will have moved one-half turn because of the gear ratio to its driving pinion. This will have moved the center of the rotarytable away from the knife so that now it is at a distance of A plus B, or five inches in this example because the, eccentric and link will have pulled the frame to the left. The latch falls into the notch in the table when this rotary motion has made one-quarter turn, and the operator again brings down the knife to cut the second edge. The latch is again released and the table turns and the frame moves back to its original position, which brings the paper ready to cut the third margin, at dimension A which is four inches fromlthe center or eight inches from the first edge. The final operation is to rotate the table another quarter turn, which again establishes the dimension of five inches from the center, and the final edge is trimmed, exactly five plus five or ten inches from the second edge to be trimmed.

The operator then lifts the clamp and gauge plate and removes the paper, shifts the operating device once more to bring it to starting position, introduces a new sheet, gauges and then clamps it and proceeds as before.

This operation is very quick and simplifies greatly the trimming to exact dimension edges of 'a batch of sheets.

I have shown a motor 10 for driving the belt H which engages over the grooved pulley of the frame carried operating device. This belt will serve to permit the necessary shifting for adjustments of the parts, and the motor can be left stationary, which takes a good deal of weight off the sliding frame, such as would be called for if the motor were on this frame.

As I have already noted various modifications of my mechanism of which an exemplary showing has been made, are within the skill of the mechanic, and the inventive features of my invention are set forth in my claims.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In combination with a trimming machine having a cutting knife, means to hold paper with relation to said knife, comprising a movable frame, means on said frame including a rotary table, and means for engaging a piece to be trimmed on said table, and an eccentric device and drive therefor on said frame and connected to the machine to move the frame and hence the table, and means for adjusting the eccentricity thereof.

2. In combination with a trimming machine having a cutting knife, means to hold paper with relation to said knife, comprising a movable frame, means on said frame including a rotary table, and means for engaging a piece to be trimmed on said table, and an eccentric device and drive therefor on said frame and connected to the machine to move the frame and hence the table, and means for adjusting the eccentricity thereof, said means including a member adjustable withrelation to the center of the eccentric, and a link extending from said adjustable member to the machine, which link is adjustable, whereby the frame has an adjustment which shifts the table center to and from the knife.

3. In combination with a trimming machine having a cutting knife, means to hold paper with relation to said knife, comprising a movable frame, means on said frame including a rotary table, and means for engaging a piece to be trimmed on said table, and an eccentric device and drive therefor on said frame and connected to the machine to move the frame and hence the table, and means for adjusting the eccentricity thereof, a notched rotary element mounted to move on the same center as the table, a clutch means for the drive, and a spring finger following the rotary element and engaging the notches and simultaneously throwing off the clutch device when it sinks into a notch, whereby quarter turns of the table are automatically arranged for.

4. In combination with a trimming machine having a cutting knife, means to hold paper with relation to said knife, comprising a movable frame, means on said frame including a rotary table, and means for engaging a piece to be trimmed on said table, and an eccentric device and drive therefor on said frame and connected to the machine to move the frame and hence the table, and means for adjusting the eccentricity thereof, said means including a member adjustable with relation to the center of the eccentric, and a link extending from said adjustable member to the machine, which link is adjustable, whereby the frame has an adjustment which shifts the table center to and from the knife, and calibrations formed on the machine to guide in the two adjustments. p

5. In combination with a trimming machine having a cutting knife, means to hold paper with relation to said knife, comprising a movable frame, means on said frame including a rotary table, and means for engaging a piece to be trimmed on said table, and an eccentric device and drive therefor on saidframe and connected to the machine to move the frame and hence the table, and means for adjusting the eccentricity thereof, said means including a member adjustable with relation to the center of the eccentric, and a link extending from said adjustable member to the machine, which link is adjustable, whereby the frame has an adjustment which shifts the table center to and from the knife, a notched rotary element mounted to move on the same center as the table, a clutch means for the drive, and a spring finger'following the rotary element and engaging the notches and simultaneously throwing off the clutch device when it sinks into a notch, whereby quarter turns of the table are automatically arranged for.

6. In combination with a trimming machine having a cutting knife, means to hold paper with relation to said knife, comprising a movable frame, means on said frame including a rotary table, and means for engaging a piece to be trimmed on said table, and an eccentric device and drive therefor on said frame and connected to the machine to move the frame and hence the table, and means for adjusting the eccentricity thereof, said means including a member adjustable with relation to the center of the eccentric, and a link extending from said adjustable member to the machine, which link is adjustable,

whereby the frame has an adjustment which shifts the table center to and from the knife, a notched rotary element mounted to move on the same center as the table, a clutch means for the drive, and a spring finger following the rotary element and engaging the notches and simultaneously throwing off the clutch device when it sinks into a notch, whereby quarter turns of the table are automatically arranged for, and calibrations formed on the machine to guide in the two adjustments.

7. In a trimming machine having a cutting knife for the purpose described, the combination with a rotary table, of means for rotating said table by quarter turns, and simultaneously shifting the center of rotation of said table by measured amounts so that after each quarter turn it is disposed at a different distance from said knife, said table and knife being mutually adjustable.

8. In a trimming machine having a cutting knife for the purpose described, the combination with a rotary table, of means for rotating said table by quarter turns, and simultaneously shifting the center of rotation of said table by measured amounts, said shifting being such that after each quarter turn the center of the table is shifted alternately to and fro with, respect to said knife, by a measured dimension, so that after each quarter turn it is disposed at a different distance from said knife, said table and knife being mutually adjustable.

9. In a trimming machine having a cutting knife for the purpose described, the combination with a rotary table, of means for rotating said table by quarter turns, simultaneously shifting the center of rotation of said table by measured amounts, and means forming part of the mechanism for calibrating the adjustment between the table and the knife, during quarter turns, so that after each quarter turn it is disposed at a different distance from said knife, said table and knife being mutually adjustable.

10. In a trimming machine having a cutting knife for the purpose described, the combination with a rotary table, of means for rotating said table by quarter turns, simultaneously shifting the center of rotation of said table by measured amounts, means for clamping a piece to be trimmed on the table, and a drive for the table having means bringing it to a stop at the end of each quarter turn until subsequently set into operation by the operator, so that after each quarter turn the table is disposed at a different distance from said knife, said table and knife being mutually adjustable.

A. SENIOR PRINCE. 

